Most oral lesions result from trauma. However, other oral lesions are dysplastic tumors, some of which may be benign, but some of which may be either cancerous or precancerous. In addition, many dysplastic lesions are small and easily missed on routine visual examination by dental clinicians.
An in vivo diagnostic test is known which identifies and delineates suspect dysplastic oral tissue. This screening test is generally described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,251 to Mashberg and in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,801 to Tucci et al. More recently kits have been developed which make it possible for clinicians to quickly and easily administer the test, as part of other routine dental procedures, and thus identify and/or delineate suspect sites at a time when the patients are symptomless or while the dysplastic lesions are so small that they might be missed during normal visual examination. Once a suspect dysplastic lesion is identified by the Mashberg protocol, a regular biopsy sample can be taken and subjected to histological examination, to determine whether the lesion is malignant or precancerous. Kits for performing this test, containing premixed dye and rinse solutions in the proper quantities and concentrations, are licensed by Zila, Inc. and are available commercially in Canada from Germiphene, Inc. under the trademark ORASCAN.TM. and in The United Kingdom and Australia from Stafford-Miller Ltd. under the trademark "ORASCREEN.RTM.".